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The city was first mentioned in 806. In the late Middle Ages, the city was one of the capitals of the Bavarian duchies alongside Munich,Landshut andStraubing, which is reflected in the architecture. On 13 March 1472 Ingolstadt became the seat of the firstuniversity in Bavaria, which later distinguished itself as the center of theCounter-Reformation. ThefreethinkingIlluminati order was also founded here in 1776. The city was also a Bavarian state fortress for more than 400 years. The historic old town has been preserved.
There are two colleges in the city. The place is one of the three regional centers in Bavaria. The city is mainly characterized by the manufacturing industry, such as automobile and mechanical engineering. The unemployment rate was 3.3% in February 2022.
Covering an urban area of 133.35 km2 (51.49 sq mi), Ingolstadt is geographically Bavaria's fourth-largest city after Munich, Nuremberg, and Augsburg. At its largest point, the city is about 18 km (11 mi) from east to west and from north to south about 15 km (9 mi). The city boundary has a length of 70 km (43 mi).
The city boundary is about 14 km (9 mi) away from the geographic centre of Bavaria inKipfenberg. The old town is approximately 374 m (1,227 ft)above sea level and the highest point, located in the district of Pettenhofen, is 410.87 m (1,348.00 ft). The lowest point of the Schutter confluence with the Danube is at 362 m (1,188 ft)above sea level. Ingolstadt uses Central European Time throughout Germany; the average time lag is 14 minutes.
The city is expanding at the northern and southern banks of the Danube in a wide, flat bowl. The Ingolstadt basin borders the Jura foothills, located south and to the north of the Donau-Isar-Hügelland. In the southwest is the Donaumoos, while in the east, the lowland forests of the Danube reach into the urban area. It is the second-largest hardwood floodplain on the Danube. The Sandrach, the former southern main branch of the Danube, partly forms the southern city border. In the north, the Schutter flows through from the west, reaching the Danube near the Altstadt.
On 30 April 1632, the Germanfield marshalJohann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly died at Ingolstadt during aSwedish siege of the city. The field marshal had been badly wounded in a previous engagement with the Swedes under KingGustavus Adolphus. Ingolstadt proved to be the first fortress inGermany that held out for the entire length of the Swedish siege, and the Swedes eventually withdrew.[citation needed]
Gustavus Adolphus' horse remains can be seen in the City Museum. The horse was shot from under the king by one of the cannons inside the fortress, a cannon known as "The Fig". When the Swedes withdrew, the city preserved the remains of the king's horse, eventually putting theSchwedenschimmel [de] on display. It has remained thus for almost 400 years. In 1748,Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Order ofIlluminati, was born in Ingolstadt. After the French invasion in 1799, the fortress was demolished, and the university was relocated toLandshut.
Originally a fortress city, Ingolstadt is enclosed by amedieval defensive wall. The Bavarian fortress (1537–1930) now holds themuseum of the Bavarian army.[4] DuringWorld War I, futureFrench presidentCharles de Gaulle was detained there as aprisoner of war.[citation needed] Asappers' drill ground lies next to the river. Two military air bases are located nearby, one used for testing aircraft. The long military tradition of the city is reflected in today's civil and cultural life. Former "off-limit" military training areas have been converted into well-used public parks.
In 1945, the car manufacturerAuto Union first arrived in the city. The company's original factories inChemnitz andZwickau (both then in Soviet-controlledEast Germany) were shattered during thewar, and were seized by the Soviets asreparations. Auto Union executives initially started a spare parts operation in Ingolstadt in the immediate post-war period, with a view to relocating the entire company to the region. With the help ofMarshall Plan aid, Auto Union was formally re-founded in Ingolstadt in 1949, ultimately evolving into the modern-eraAudi company, after it was taken over byVolkswagen in 1964. Today, Audi is the region's largest employer and now dominates the economy of the city.
As one of five ducal residences of medieval Bavaria—besidesLandshut,Munich,Straubing andBurghausen—the city of Ingolstadt features many Gothic buildings, such as theHerzogskasten ('old ducal castle',c. 1255) and theNew Castle, which was built from 1418 onwards. The largest church is the Gothic hall church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenmunster), which was begun in 1425. The church was built to serve as a second parish church beside Saint Maurice as well as the burial place for Louis and his family and intended to be the official burial place for the future Dukes of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. Its peculiar and rare angle of footprint was emulated in the 20th century builtCathedral of Newark. Also, the churches of Saint Maurice (1235) and of the Gnadenthal and Franciscan monasteries date from the Gothic era. TheKreuztor (1385) is one of the remaining gates of the old city wall and to this day the key landmark of the city. The Gothic Old City Hall was constructed in the 14th century and later altered several times.
The Baroque era is represented by the Old Anatomy Building of the university (1723–1736, designed by Gabriel de Gabrieli) and the church St. Maria de Victoria, which was built by theAsam brothers (1732–1736). The church of the Augustinians ofJohann Michael Fischer (1736) was completely destroyed in World War II.
Ingolstadt town hall
Many buildings of the neo-classical fortification ofLeo von Klenze have been preserved, such as theReduit Tilly and the towersBaur andTriva.
As well as being the home of the headquarters of the car manufacturerAudi, the town is also home to Audi'smuseum mobile, which is open to the public and presents historic exhibits and offers guided tours.
Ingolstadt is a green city with numerous parks, green spaces and forests. The most prominent of these is the "Glacis", formerly an open space in front of the city walls, now surrounding the historic city centre. It functions as a "green belt" and a buffer area between traffic, residential areas and schools. It is possible to traverse it using spacious paths for pedestrians and cyclists, with a good view of the site of the former fortifications, including a well-preserved section of the ditch. Spanning about 50 acres (20 ha) of the Glacis isKlenzepark [de], the biggest park in the city. It contained the formerIngolstadt State Fortress [Wikidata] and was the site of theLandesgartenschau in 1992. Klenzepark is south of the Danube, opposite the Ingolstadt old town. In the warm seasons, about 100,000 visitors use the park every month, mostly young people. While about 75% of the park visitors come from Ingolstadt and the surrounding area, the remaining approximately 25% travel from more distant places.[citation needed]
The biggest forest in Ingolstadt is the Auwald ("riverside forest", also called "Schüttel"). It is found on both the northern and southern banks of the Danube, and is one of the biggest well-preserved river forests in Germany, extending mainly from Neuburg to Ingolstadt with extensions to the city centre. The forest serves as a natural reserve, with parts containing unique vegetation or acting as a wildlife reserve.
The river Danube runs through Ingolstadt, flowing west to east. In the area of Ingolstadt, the Danube is between 80 and 100 metres wide and flows past Ingolstadt's old town.
Ingolstadt is home to theIngolstadt School of Management, which is the department of business administration and economics of theCatholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. In national rankings, the business school regularly scores among the top ten.[citation needed] The faculty maintains a large network of partner universities for international educational exchange.
The Ingolstadt School of management offersbachelor's andmaster's degrees in business administration. Among the academic programs offered are also executiveMBA and doctoral degrees.
Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI) is a university for technology, computer sciences and business administration. With approximately 6,000 students, it is the biggest educational institution in Ingolstadt.[7]
Several scholarship programmes supported by companies such as Siemens and Conti Temic (Continental AG) provide gifted students with financial assistance during their studies. These students deepen their practical experience by working at these organizations.
THI offers several undergraduate and graduate programmes.
The sports life of the city is based on the 83 registered sports clubs. The biggest sports club is theMTV 1881 Ingolstadt, with over 3000 registered members in 16 branches. In total, the sports clubs in Ingolstadt have more than 41,000 members.
Ingolstadt is especially known forice hockey andassociation football.ERC Ingolstadt, founded in 1964, plays in theGerman Ice Hockey League since the 2002–03 season. With the exception of its season of debut and 2007–08, the club has reached the national playoffs every year as of 2014[update], and has reached the semi-finals three times. They won the German Ice Hockey League Championship in 2014.
The football clubFC Ingolstadt 04 came into existence in 2004 after the merger of the football branches of MTV Ingolstadt and ESV Ingolstadt. In the 2007–08 season, it was promoted from the third-highest division at the time,Regionalliga Süd to2. Bundesliga. In the 2008–09 season, it was relegated to the penultimate place, but was promoted again in 2010-11 and remained in 2. Bundesliga till 2015. In 2015, Ingolstadt won the 2. Bundesliga and were promoted to the country's highest league, theBundesliga. During their first season in the Bundesliga, Ingolstadt finished in 11th place. They were relegated to 2. Bundesliga by the end of the 2016–17 season.
The nearest airports to the city areMunich Airport, located 68 km (42 mi) south east andNuremberg Airport, which is located 105 km (65 mi) north of Ingolstadt.
Ingolstadt is one of the many settings in Mary Shelley's novelFrankenstein. Primarily, Victor Frankenstein attends university in Ingolstadt. It is also widely regarded as the place where the unnamed monster was created.
TheIlluminati was founded in Ingolstadt and Shelley's husband,Percy Bysshe Shelley, was sympathetic to the radical group's aim of freeing society from Christian influence. In 1810 as a student at Oxford he wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg: “I burn with impatience for the moment of Xtianity’s dissolution[8]” and signed off with the Illuminati's catchphrase “écrasez l'infâme”.
The X-Files episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus" makes a reference to theUniversity of Ingolstadt. This was an allusion toFrankenstein, as the episode contained numerous Frankenstein references, and the full title ofFrankenstein is"Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus".
In theTerra Ignota series, Ingolstadt is the capital of Gordian, one of the world's seven Hives.
In theWarhammer 40,000 universe Fabius Bile, a renegade Space Marine was born in Ingolstadt in the 30th Millennium.
